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Nicholas Smith, the actor who played the jug-eared manager Mr Rumbold in the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?, has died aged 81.

"It is with great sadness we can confirm that our client, the actor Nicholas Smith, passed away yesterday," his agents at Michelle Braidman Associates said."He was a lovely man and a terrific actor. He will be much missed by all who knew him.

"Our thoughts are with his family."

Smith, who died in hospital on Sunday, had been in hospital for seven weeks following a fall at home. He had been the last surviving member of the original cast since the death of Frank Thornton.

Set in a department store, Are You Being Served? ran from 1972 to 1985 and often attracted audiences of more than 20 million. It also starred John Inman, Molly Sugden, Frank Thornton and Wendy Richard.

Born in 1934 in Banstead, Surrey, Smith's other TV roles included parts in Doctor Who, The Frost Report, The Saint and The Avengers. He played PC Yates in several episodes of the BBC police series Z Cars between 1972-75.

His film work included appearances in Salt and Pepper (1968), A Walk with Love and Death (1969), The Twelve Chairs (1970), The Canterbury Tales (1972) directed by Pasolini, and The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) as Hunkston, Sigerson Holmes' servant.

In 1979, he appeared in Worzel Gummidge as Mr Foster, the headmaster of the school. More recently, he was the voice of the eccentric Reverend Clement Hedges in Wallace & Gromit film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).

Smith's daughter is the actress Catherine Russell, who plays Serena Campbell in Holby City.

He must of been the last of the are you being served team to pass away

classic comedy

Yes, he's the only one of the original cast left. Mike Berry (who joined later and replaced Trevor Bannister) is the only major member of the cast still alive.

As an aside, Bannister, who played Mr Lucas, was the same age as Smith even though the characters they played were supposedly 20-odd years apart!